Northern Kentucky Norse vs Youngstown State Penguins Prediction, 2/22/2026 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Northern Kentucky Norse vs Youngstown State Penguins

Date: Sunday, February 22, 2026

Location: Beeghly Center in Youngstown, OH

TV: ESPN+

The Youngstown State Penguins (14-14) will compete against the Northern Kentucky Norse (17-11) at Beeghly Center on Sunday.

The Northern Kentucky Norse took the court against IPFW and earned the victory with a final of 87-71 in their last contest. Northern Kentucky ended with a 51.6% field goal percentage (32 of 62) and buried 10 out of their 29 3-point attempts. From the charity stripe, the Norse knocked down 13 of 19 tries for a rate of 68.4%. When it comes to pulling down rebounds, they earned 36 with 10 of them being offensive. They also distributed 18 assists in this contest in addition to forcing the opposition into 13 turnovers and having 8 steals. In the matter of the defense, Northern Kentucky allowed the other team to go 41.5% from the floor on 22 out of 53 shooting. IPFW doled out 12 assists and had 4 steals in the game. On top of that, IPFW totaled 25 boards (5 offensive, 20 defensive), but wasn't able to record a rejection. IPFW went 77.3% at the charity stripe by knocking down 17 of 22 tries. They also knocked down 10 of 27 shots from distance. With respect to fouls, the Norse finished with 18 while IPFW finished the game with 20 fouls.

LJ Wells is a guy who was a major contributor for this game. He recorded 29 points on 10 out of 16 shooting. He played for 35 mins and also collected 4 rebounds. He ended up shooting 62.5% from the floor and earned 5 dimes.

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Northern Kentucky comes into this game with a win-loss record of 17-11 so far this year. They are turning it over 12.0 times per game and as a unit are committing 18.2 fouls every game. As a unit, Northern Kentucky is grabbing 35.1 rebounds per contest and has totaled 436 dimes this season, which has them ranked 58th in Division 1 in terms of passing the ball. The Norse are hitting 33.7% on 3-point shots (261 of 774) and 71.6% from the charity stripe. They average 83.1 points per outing (44th in the nation) while hitting 47.0% from the field.

On the defensive end, the Norse are forcing 14.3 turnovers on a nightly basis while drawing 18.8 personal fouls. They are surrendering 35.6% on 3-point attempts and they are 251st in the nation in opponents PPG (76.6). The Norse defense is giving up an opponent FG percentage of 45.5% (755 of 1,661) and they concede 34.9 rebounds per game as a team. They are ranked 278th in college hoops in allowing assists with 390 surrendered for the season.

When they last stepped on the court, the Youngstown State Penguins took home the win by a final score of 106-82 when they faced Cleveland State. In reference to team rebounding, Youngstown State allowed Cleveland State to grab 21 in total (6 offensive). They finished 34.0% from 3-point land by hitting 16 of 47 and finished the contest at 8 of 11 from the free throw line (72.7%). The Penguins permitted Cleveland State to convert 29 out of their 65 attempts from the field which had them shooting 44.6% in this contest. When the final whistle was blown, the Penguins finished shooting 33 for 52 from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 63.5%. When talking about shooting from 3-point land, Youngstown State converted 14 of 22 tries (63.6%). They were able to bury 26 of the free throw tries for a rate of 76.5%. Cleveland State was called for 26 personal fouls in the game which took the Penguins to the charity stripe for a total of 34 tries. They gave up possession of the ball 10 times, while recording 5 steals for the game. The Penguins were able to corral 29 defensive rebounds and 7 offensive boards totaling 36 for the matchup.

Cris Carroll was important for the Penguins in this contest. He converted 8 out of 13 in this matchup for a rate of 61.5%, and accounted for 6 rebounds. He scored 26 points in his 30 minutes on the court and added 6 assists for this game.

Youngstown State has a win-loss mark of 14-14 so far this season. As an offense, the Penguins are shooting 47.2% from the floor, which is ranked 66th in the country. Youngstown State has scored 2,250 points so far this year (80.4 per game) and they pull down 35.1 rebounds per contest. They are earning an assist 15.0 times per game (118th in the nation) and they are turning it over 12.9 times per game. The Penguins commit 17.6 fouls per contest and they connect on 74.5% from the free throw line.

The Youngstown State defense allows 34.6% on shots from behind the 3-point line (186 of 538) and their opponents are converting on 74.5% of their foul shots. They have relinquished 12.1 assists and 32.4 boards on a nightly basis, which has them ranked 82nd and 62nd in college. The Penguins are ranked 161st in the country in points given up per game with 73.2. They are forcing 12.6 TO's per game and have allowed teams to shoot 44.9% from the floor (236th in college hoops).

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Northern Kentucky

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